Longwall mining machine overhanging face side of conveyor

ABSTRACT

A coal cutting machine extends across a conveyor that is spaced from the working face of a coal mine, and across most of the space between it and the working face. One side of the machine is supported on the side wall of the conveyor along its gobbing side. The opposite side of the machine is supported by a skid on the foot wall of the mine. Between the conveyor and the working face the machine houses a winch and drive motor, and a cutter head housing is connected to an end of the machine body in the same area and contains a horizontal axle that projects from the conveyor side of the housing. Mounted on this axle is the inner end of an arm that extends lengthwise of the machine away from the cutter housing. The outer end of the arm carries a roll cutter that extends laterally from it across the housing.

United States Patent 1191 Lanfermann Aug. 21, 1973 .[58] Field of Search ..299/43-46 LONGWALL MINING MACHINE OVERIIANGING FACE SIDE OF CONVEYOR [75] Inventor: Willy Lanfermann, Bochum,

Germany [73] Assignee: Gebr.Eickhotf Maschinenfabrik Und Elsengiesserei m.b.H., Bochum, Germany [22] Filed: Mar. 16, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 235,155

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 19, 1971 Germany P 21 13 399.3

[52] US. Cl. 299/43 [51] Int. Cl..'....-

1,444,906 5/1966 France 299/43 1,272,254 7/1968 Germany 299/43 1,026,053 4/1966 Great Britain 299/43 Primary Examiner-Ernest R. Purser Attorney-Thomas 11. Murray et a1.

[ 5 7] ABSTRACT A coal cutting machine extends across a conveyor that is spaced from the working face of a coal mine, and across most of the space between it and the working face. One side of the machine is supported on the side wall of the conveyor along its gobbing side. The opposite side of the machine is supported by a skid on the foot wall of the mine. Between the conveyor and the working face the machine houses a winch and drive motor, and a cutter head housing is connected to an end of the machine body in the same area and contains a horizontal axle that projects from the conveyor side of the housing. Mounted on this axle is the inner end of an arm that extends lengthwise of the machine away from the cutter housing. The outer end of the arm carries a roll cutter that extends laterally from it across the housing.

10 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures Pate nted Aug. 21, 1973 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Aug. 21, 1973 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 LONGWALL MINING MACHINE OVERI-IANGING FACE SIDE OF CONVEYOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Coal mining machines provided with rotating cutter rolls and used in longwall mining are moved forward along the wall on a chain, ends of which are anchored. Such a machine usually slides along the two side walls of the frame of a face conveyor which rests on the foot wall close to the longwall. The coal that is loosened by the machine is carried to the end of the longwall by the conveyor and then carried away by another conveyor. Immediately after the passage of the machine, the conveyor is moved onto the freshly cut foot wall beneath the new working face and the roof supports are likewise moved in that direction. Insofar as the very great weight of the machine rests on the conveyor, the weight is distributed by it over a great area of the foot wall. Thus, the machine is stable as it moves forward slowly. This would not be true if the conveyor is near the gobbing side of the machine in respect of the path of the machine so that the machine projects from the working face said of the conveyor and overhangs that side.

For another thing, machines that can be moved on the frame of a conveyor and in which the machine body is borne by a slide-like gantry that extends above the conveyor can only be worked into seams with a given minimum thickness. This thickness is established prin cipally by the height of the machine body, including the gantry, to which the height of the conveyor itself is added.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide a coal cutting machine which is built up of structural components that can be mass produced and with which a seam of less thickness than heretofore can be worked as the machine moves along the frame of a face conveyor.

Another object of the invention is to provide the machine with a cutter head housing, from the gobbing side of which projects the usual axle that supports the arm carrying the cutter roll.

A further object is to partially support the machine on the freshly cut part of the foot wall between the conveyor and the new working face to the extent that the foot wall is capable of receiving the great weight of the machine. Related objects are to provide for adjusting the extent of the weight displacement of the machine on the foot wall with the ability to assure the correct positioning of the roll cutters relative to the working face at all times.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a plan view;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross section taken on the line ll-Il of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged end view in cross section taken on the line IIIlIl of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal section taken on the line IVIV of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings, a coal cutting machine is shown that is moved along a working face 1 of a mine in a longwall mining system. It also moves along a face conveyor 2 that rests on the foot wall of the mine and is spaced from the working face. At its gobbing side the conveyor has an upwardly extending side wall 3 provided at its top with a horizontal surface and with a guide rail 4 that is circular in cross section. The cutting machine has a low body that extends from wall 3 of the conveyor across the conveyor and also across most of the space between it and the working face. This body includes two housings 6 and 7 connected end to end, one for a winch 8 and the other for a drive motor 9. These housings are in the space between the conveyor and the working face and therefore constitute an overhanging portion of the machine body. Connected to these housings is a gantry 11 that bridges the space between them and the guide rail 4 of the conveyor. The outer side of the gantry portion of the machine body is supported by the conveyor's gobbing-side wall. This is done by skids 12 that slide on the side wall and encircle the guide rail.

The central portion of the machine body is supported by a downwardly extending skid 13 that slides along a plate 14 resting on the foot wall near the working face side of the conveyor. This plate extends lengthwise of the conveyor frame and is connected to it by a ramp 15. The weight of the machine on this plate prevents any tendency of the adjacent side of the conveyor to rise due to the weight of the machine on the opposite side of the conveyor frame. Plate 14 also distributes weight of the machine over a large area of the foot wall.

At the side of the machine nearest the working face there is another skid that engages and loads the foot wall directly. This skid 17 is designed to take some of the weight off the middle skid 13, depending upon the bearing capacity of the foot wall. For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 4, the skid is provided with a vertical recess 18, in which a lower toggle link 19 is mounted on a transverse pin 20. The upper end of the link is forked and straddles the lower end of an upper toggle link 21. The two links are pivotally connected by a pin 22. The upper link is also pivoted on a pin 23 that is mounted in a frame 24 secured to the adjoining sides of the winch and motor housings. The upper end of the upper link is pivotally connected to a piston rod 26 that extends lengthwise of the machine into a fluid pressure cylinder 27. The closed end of the cylinder is pivotally mounted on a pin 28 that is likewise mounted in frame 24. By admitting or releasing fluid under pressure to the cylinder, the underlying skid can be pressed down against the foot wall with more or less pressure, depending upon how much pressure that wall can bear. The fluid pressure is adjusted by the operator by means of a pressure reducing valve. The fluid pressure line for the cylinder can be connected into the hydraulic circuit (not shown) that operates the winch.

To allow for vertical adjustment of the skid and yet control its longitudinal movement relative to the machine body, parallel bars 30 project from the opposite ends of the skid and have transverse pins 31 welded to their bottoms. Each pin extends through a slot in the lower end of an inclined guide bar 32 between the parallel bars. The outer upper ends of the guide bars are mounted on pivot pins 33 secured to the bottom of a pair of cutter head housings 34. Each of these housings is connected by a vertical plate 36 to the adjoining ends of housing 6 or 7. The cutter head housings are offset laterally relative to housings 6 and 7 so that they extend toward the working face farther than the body of the machine, with frame 24 between their laterally projecting portions. Each cutter head housing contains the usual transverse horizontal axle 37 that projects from the conveyor side of the housing for supporting the inner end of an arm 38 that can be swung up and down. The arms are therefore disposed between the cutter head housings and the conveyor, with the conveyor side of the arms aligned with the correspondingsides of housings 6 and 7, to reduce the width of the machine. The arms contain the usual trains of gears for driving roll cutters 39 journalled in their outer ends and extending laterally therefrom across the outer ends of the cutter head housings. There is therefore a roll cutter at each end of the machine with the four housings in the space between them as shown in FIG. 1.

This machine can be tilted transversely around a longitudinal axis to keep the axes of the roll cutters horizontal even though the foot wall may be inclined toward or away from the working face. To enable this adjustment to be made fluid, double-acting fluid pressure cylinders 41 are secured to the opposite ends of the gantry above guide rail 4. The pistons 42 of these cylinders extend down into recesses in skids 12 as shown in FIG. 3 and are held in place by pins 43 that have tapered ends projecting into openings in the skids. This connection allows universal movement of the ends of the pistons in the skids as the cylinders are moved up or down on the pistons to tilt the machine relative to the conveyor.

in order to move this coal cutting machine along the conveyor and working face, a chain 45 extends along the gobbing side of the conveyor and has its ends anchored in any suitable manner. This chain extends over a pair of guide sprockets 46 that are spaced a shortdistance apart in the gantry near guide rails 4', as shown in F 1G. 1. Between these two sprockets there is a drive sprocket 47, around the lower portion of which the chain is directed by the guide sprockets. The drive sprocket is mounted on the outer end of a drive shaft 48 rotatable in bearings 49 in a heavy bar 50 that is welded in the gantry and extends lengthwise of it. The guide sprockets rotate around rigid axles 51 also supported by this bar and the outer side wall of the gantry. The inner end of the drive shaft is provided with a bore with internal teeth that engage external teeth on the end of the drive shaft 52 of winch 8, whereby the drive sprocket is driven by the winch to move the machine along the chain.

By having the cutter head housings and a large portion of the machine body located in the space between the two roll cutters instead of on top of the gantry, the height of the machine is reduced so that it can operate in coal seams of less thickness than heretofore. Yet, the machine is so designed that it remains stable as it moves along the stable face conveyor, in spite of one side of the machine overhanging the conveyor a considerable distance.

I claim:

1. The combination with a conveyor adapted to rest on the foot wall of a coal mine parallel to the working face and spaced therefrom and having an upwardly extending side wall along its gobbing side, of a coal cutting machine comprising a body extending across the conveyor and having aiportion projecting most of the way across the space between the conveyor and the working face, means supporting one sided said body on said conveyor side wall, a skid supporting the opposite side of said body on the foot wall and connected to the body, a winch and drive motor mounted in said projecting portion of the body, and a cutter head housing connected to an end of said projecting portion and containing a transverse horizontal axle projecting from the conveyor side of the housing, an arm mounted at its inner end on said axle and extending lengthwise of the machine away from said housing, and a roll cutter carried by the outer end of said arm and extending'laterally therefrom across said housing.

2. The combination recited in claim 1, including skids supported by said conveyor side wall, and vertically adjustable means connecting the skids with said body for tilting the machine transversely.

3. The combination recited in claim 2, in which said vertically adjustable means include fluid pressure cylinders.

4. The combination recited in claim 1, including a I base plate extending along the working face side of the conveyor and resting on the foot wall, and skid means connected to said body and slidable along said plate.

5. The combination recited in claim 1, including means for adjusting said skid vertically relative to said body.

6. The combination recited in claim 5, in which said vertically adjusting means includes a fluid pressure cylinder.

7. The combination recited in claim 6, including a toggle pivotally connected on a transverse axis to said skid and operated by said cylinder to raise and lower the skid, and inclined guide rods at the ends of the skid for controlling movement of the skid lengthwise of the machine.

8. The combination recited in claim 1, including a chain extending lengthwise of the conveyor and having anchored ends, a drive sprocket mounted in said body adjacent said conveyor side wall and driven by said winch, and two guide sprockets for guiding the chain part way around the sprocket.

9. The combination recited in claim 8, including a drive shaft for the drive sprocket mounted in said body above the conveyor, the winch having a shaft for driving said drive shaft.

10. The combination recited in claim 1, including a second cutter head housing and arm and roll cutter at the opposite end of the machine.

. i 1 l I I 

1. The combination with a conveyor adapted to rest on the foot wall of a coal mine parallel to the working face and spaced therefrom and having an upwardly extending side wall along its gobbing side, of a coal cutting machine comprising a body extending across the conveyor and having a portion projecting most of the way across the space between the conveyor and the working face, means supporting one side of said body on said conveyor side wall, a skid supporting the opposite side of said body on the foot wall and connected to the body, a winch and drive motor mounted in said projecting portion of the body, and a cutter head housing connected to an end of said projecting portion and containing a transverse horizontal axle projecting from the conveyor side of the housing, an arm mounted at its inner end on said axle and extending lengthwise of the machine away from said housing, and a roll cutter carried by the outer end of said arm and extending laterally therefrom across said housing.
 2. The combination recited in claim 1, including skids supported by said conveyOr side wall, and vertically adjustable means connecting the skids with said body for tilting the machine transversely.
 3. The combination recited in claim 2, in which said vertically adjustable means include fluid pressure cylinders.
 4. The combination recited in claim 1, including a base plate extending along the working face side of the conveyor and resting on the foot wall, and skid means connected to said body and slidable along said plate.
 5. The combination recited in claim 1, including means for adjusting said skid vertically relative to said body.
 6. The combination recited in claim 5, in which said vertically adjusting means includes a fluid pressure cylinder.
 7. The combination recited in claim 6, including a toggle pivotally connected on a transverse axis to said skid and operated by said cylinder to raise and lower the skid, and inclined guide rods at the ends of the skid for controlling movement of the skid lengthwise of the machine.
 8. The combination recited in claim 1, including a chain extending lengthwise of the conveyor and having anchored ends, a drive sprocket mounted in said body adjacent said conveyor side wall and driven by said winch, and two guide sprockets for guiding the chain part way around the sprocket.
 9. The combination recited in claim 8, including a drive shaft for the drive sprocket mounted in said body above the conveyor, the winch having a shaft for driving said drive shaft.
 10. The combination recited in claim 1, including a second cutter head housing and arm and roll cutter at the opposite end of the machine. 